Mian Asia vs. The Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2018 Lahore 54

The petitioner is a transgender who was previously issued a computerized national identity card (CNIC) with his "Guru" indicated under the father's name. The Guru passed away and the CNIC subsequently expired. The renewal of the CNIC was then denied because the petitioner could not provide the name of his father and the name of his Guru in the parent column is not acceptable. Petitioner argued that many transgenders have been abandoned by their families and are not aware of their parentage. Therefore on this ground alone, they cannot be deprived of their fundamental rights to be citizens of Pakistan and the issuance of their CNICs. Since many of them were brought up by their Gurus, the latter's names should be accepted instead of the unknown parents. Ruling in favor of the petitioner, the court said that gender identity is one of the most fundamental aspects of life which refers to a person's intrinsic sense of being male, female or transgender. Everyone is entitled to enjoy all human rights without discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.